


When Everything Is New

by amusedandconfused



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted Children, Attempts at Accurate Infant Development, Found Family, Gen, Implied Pairings, Most of these guys don't know what they're doing, Original Baby Characters, POV Alternating, Parenthood, Please be gentle I'm new to this, Questionable Future Science, Stupid Plot Twists, These guys make better parents than they ever expected, Weird Implications Brought Up by Cloning, Will add tags as I think of them, making it up as I go, pure self indulgence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-03-23 15:56:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusedandconfused/pseuds/amusedandconfused
Summary: The members of the new recalled Overwatch have found themselves in difficult situations before, but their most recent mission has upped the stakes: two babies are found in a Talon laboratory, apparently as subjects for experiments by Moira O'Deorain, and Overwatch takes it upon themselves to rescue (or steal, depends on who you ask) the children and make sure they're safe, sound, and being cared for by responsible guardians...well. Relatively responsible, anyway.A self indulgent fic about Overwatch's found family and their reaction to gaining two unexpected members. POV will change every chapter but will probably mostly stick to characters I like the most. No planned pairings yet but I have a few ships that might slip in and I will tag them if/when they appear. Please leave comments, I crave validation.





	1. Talon is Ballsy, or, This is Probably the Most Dangerous Place You Could Possibly Put Babies

Talon was known to do some pretty ballsy things now and again. You couldn’t be a terrorist organization without occasionally indulging in some things that hit some people personally. But setting up shop in not just any abandoned laboratory, but one that was run by Overwatch itself in the golden days? It made McCree think some of them might just plain have death wishes.

He’d be happy to grant said wishes.

Which was exactly what he was doing on this mission, with Genji taking one half of the small building while McCree cleared the other. The cowboy ignored the machines and computers and other scientific paraphernalia for the most part; going through that stuff was going to be Symmetra and Torbjorn’s job once the all clear was given. He didn’t worry about escapees much either; Hanzo and Ana were set up outside to pick off anyone fleeing. All he had to do was put down and Talon scum he found making bio-weapons or dismantling omnics or whatever it was they were up to now. McCree was more than capable of complex jobs, but there was something to be said for simplicity too.

“Are you two almost done?” Hanzo asked over the comms. It had the tone of someone complaining, but McCree had been on enough missions with both Shimadas to know better. Hanzo, for all that he was slow to open up to people and had a mean resting bitch face and insisted he was not an actual member of Overwatch (and disappeared for weeks at a time as if to prove it), everyone knew he had a protective streak. He just wanted confirmation that Genji was in no trouble.

And Genji was happy to give it, at least in this case. “I’m just about finished,” he announced, “I’m just going to do another quick run through of the rooms I’ve already checked. And you, McCree?”

“I got a few more rooms to check for hostiles,” McCree informed him, and as if on cue, he came across one last hallway, and he could hear voices behind one of the doors. “I think I might have found one last hidin’ spot for ‘em, give me a sec.”

He went to the door as quietly as spurs would allow, and put his ear to it for a moment to gauge the situation. While it wasn’t clear enough for him to make out any words, he could tell there were two speakers, loud and apparently arguing over something. One sounded more frantic than the other, more scared, but neither sounded like they were calm enough for him to expect he could reason with them. They also likely weren’t trying to hide, judging by the volume they were speaking.

Alright then, no point beating around the bush. McCree positioned himself, kicked the door open, and threw a flashbang into the room, waiting until it had gone off before going into the room himself. Of the two figures in there, one apparently decided being blinded and caught without means of escape wasn’t going to stop them, and they shrieked and rushed McCree with some sort of syringe in their hand. He shot them in the thigh and they fell to the floor, the needle flying from their fist.

The second, meanwhile, had ducked into a corner. McCree went to confront them, and they screamed like a little girl and pulled out a small gun, firing. It went massively wide, due to the whole “blinded by a flashbang and also obvious lack of any training with firearms” thing, but McCree chose to play it safe and gave the terrorist a bullet between the eyes before they could try again.

McCree turned to try and interrogate the first hostile before deciding what to do with them, only to see them seizing on the ground. He rushed over, and found they had gotten the dropped syringe and stabbed themselves with it. He didn’t even have time to do anything before the convulsions stopped and the scientist went limp and their eyes clouded over. They had chosen to go to hell early rather than risk giving any of Talon’s secrets, apparently. Better them than him, at least.

McCree sighed. He didn’t plan to let any Talon agent live long when he stepped into the lab, but it still sucked that he couldn’t get even a scrap of info to help them figure out whatever their plans were. A least it was quiet now-

Wait, no. There was still a noise beyond the whirr of electronics and the hum of fluorescent lights, loud enough that he was surprised he hadn’t noticed it before. McCree stood and glanced around for the source, and soon found it in what looked like two incubator tanks in the middle of the room. Something in them was wiggling about, and while their cries were muffled enough by the glass he hadn’t heard them while distracted, they were impossible to ignore now.

“No,” McCree actually said aloud to no one, refusing to believe it even as his brain processed the noise and recognized exactly what it was. Weird shit had happened in his life, but not this weird, surely. He approached the tanks cautiously, not sure if he hoped there was some sort of weird abomination out of a horror movie inside.

But no, it was as he thought. Laying in the tanks, wailing their lungs out in righteous indignation, were two babies, helpless and unprotected. They couldn’t be more than a few months old and were clad in nothing but diapers, each had a little medical bracelet wrapped around their right wrist, and neither looked very pleased with the situation they were in.

“What the fuck are you two doin’ here?” he asked, as though they could actually answer or even knew, before he caught himself. He took a deep breath and kept himself from getting too freaked out. Okay. Babies. Not something he was expecting, but he could handle this. Getting civilians out of danger was part of the job, even if it wasn’t the usual “kidnapped by human traffickers” or “caught in the crossfire” or “accidentally witnessing vigilante efforts” kind of danger he usually ran into. As for learning why the hell a Talon lab had a pair of goddamn infants in their less than tender care, that could wait until the babies were safely out of their clutches and with people who could actually provide them safety and stability.

He quickly turned on the comm. “Um, there’s…civilians here.”

“Civilians?” Ana repeated, clearly surprised. “This is not the kind of building they would hold hostages in.”

“I dunno if ‘hostage’ is the right word, exactly…”

“How can you be sure they are not simply more Talon operatives?” Symmetra asked, and McCree could hear her frowning particularly hard at him. She usually did. He tended to rub her the wrong way.

“Trust me, they ain’t up to any shenanigans.”

“But how can you be sure of that?”

“Because they’re fucking babies.”

“WHAT?” McCree winced as five voices all loudly spoke in unison. His response was to take the comm mic from his collar and hold it near enough to the tanks that the sound of the wailing children could be heard for a good few moments.

“Why are there BABIES in a TALON LAB?” Genji asked, sounding absolutely flummoxed. “What the hell were they DOING to them!?”

“Are they injured or sick? Were they being held hostage?” Torbjorn interrupted, sounding more concerned than anything else. It made sense, McCree supposed, since he was a father; the welfare of children was something he would take personally.

“They don’t look hurt, and anythin’ this loud has a healthy set of lungs,” McCree replied, looking them over again to describe them in more detail. “There’s two of ‘em, in these sort of incubator-like things. They have a couple electrical nodes on ‘em, like their vitals are being monitored, and some band-aids on their legs, but other than that they seem fine. There were two scientists in here, but I took ‘em out, so no help from them. If I had to guess, I think they’re maybe a couple months old? Very little, pro’lly can’t even sit up yet. If they’re hostages, they had pretty lax security.”

The infants had started to quiet down, to McCree’s immense relief, and now they were looking at him. One of them looked almost curious, and the other…well. McCree wouldn’t have thought that a baby could GLARE, but this baby was definitely giving him a dirty look for daring to cause them distress. In another situation, it might have been funny or even cute. Instead, McCree just added “They don’t seem very happy,” to his little report.

“McCree, are there any other hostiles in the building that you are aware of?” Ana asked, in her serious business voice.

“No ma’am, this was the last area I was checking, and Genji said he was done with his sweep, so everythin’ oughta be good.”

“Then send me a signal on the comm so I can find you and help you bring the infants out. While Symmetra and Torbjorn do their part, Genji and Hanzo can go to the transport and see if our supplies for emergency rescues has anything useful.” Her inner mom was showing, and Mccree for one was glad for it.

“Yes ma’am,” he said agreeably, even as the Shimadas and Torbjorn began to object, and he quickly turned took the earpiece out and flicked the switch that would have it start sending a signal to the other comms of his exact location. Ana would be there shortly.

In the meantime, he looked over the tanks and, finding little control pads on them, opened them up. Without the muffling glass, the sound of Grumpy Baby whining became clearer, as did the fact that they probably weren’t going to stop. Quiet Baby, meanwhile, had simply turned their head to keep looking at McCree. Closer up to them, McCree could se there was something printed on the little bands on their wrists. He carefully took Quiet Baby’s arm in his gloved hand to examine it more closely.

It was a small band fitted to a small wrist, but McCree could just make out that, printed neatly on the green plastic, were the words SUBJECT LO-09, AB POS, M. O’DEORAIN.

McCree scowled at the name on the band and let the baby’s arm go before he accidently hurt the poor thing. Of COURSE Moira O’Deorain would be involved in something as twisted as raising babies with a terrorist cell. What she was up to, he couldn’t say, but he knew damn well it wasn’t going to be anything motherly. A check of the other baby’s wristband (which they objected to his examining, judging by the increased whining) showed the same information, except they were apparently SUBJECT LZ-13, whatever that meant.

Ana came in then. McCree tipped his hat to her, which she ignored, rushing right up to the tanks and quickly picking up Grumpy Baby, shushing them gently. Amazingly, it worked, and as soon as the infant was good and settled in Ana’s arms they quieted right down. They continued to pout, though. McCree was almost amused at how bad tempered this baby was. But then, if he was being held in a glass tank by terrorists and probably woken from a nap by screaming scientists and a flashbang, he’d be a bit testy himself.

“Jesse, do you know how to hold a newborn?” Ana asked, and after McCree took a second to make sure she wasn’t joking around, he reluctantly nodded. “Take the other baby then. We’re getting them to the shuttle as quickly as possible. Whatever is going on here, it cannot be good for them, and I want to get them a check up as soon as we can.”

McCree held back a sigh and carefully picked up Quiet Baby. Fortunately, they seemed fine with this. “No sense of stranger danger, huh?”

“At this age, they do not much mind who cares for them, as long as someone is caring for them. They do not start getting stranger anxiety until about half a year,” Ana said, her attention divided between answering McCree and looking over Grumpy Baby’s wristband as he had done. She too frowned at the words. “That explains how they knew enough about this lab to get past any remaining security here. O’Deorain must have worked here and given them a hand.”

“Let’s get out of here before she comes here looking for these guys, then,” McCree suggested, adjusting his hold on Quiet Baby subtly. Just because he knew how to hold a baby didn’t mean he was very experienced with the act. At least Quiet Baby didn’t have any complaints, and was content to drool and nuzzle into McCree’s serape, while Grumpy Baby was still fussing a bit as Ana led the way back out.

The folks on base were gonna lose their damn minds.


	2. New Arrivals, or, For Such Tiny Babies They Sure Brought a Lot of Drama!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The babies arrive and there are revelations. This chapter is longer than the first but it's not long enough to make up for the time it took to write it.

Genji couldn’t say he really had an experience with babies. Sure, there had been a few little cousins, occasional girlfriends and boyfriends with kid siblings, but that was about it. And honestly, he had never even really noticed that lack of experience before, because there was no reason to do so.

But now, here he was, sitting next to the makeshift crib Torbjorn and Satya had made for the ride home, holding it steady as they flew. Ana was on the other side, watchful and serious, and Torbjorn was in the cockpit, and everyone else looked a little off-kilter and awkward, even prim and proper Satya. Genji doubted he seemed any less befuddled. At least he had a mask on.

The infants, for their part, seemed to be taking this in stride. Ana had swaddled them up in blankets from the emergency supplies, and while Genji didn’t know how being wrapped up like a burrito was comforting, it had seemed to calm them, and they were fast asleep. The base had been called ahead to warn them, and Genji hoped the babies were enjoying their sleep, because he was certain as soon as they stepped off the ship when they got home, there’d be enough commotion to wake them right up.

Jesse had referred to one as Grumpy and the other as Quiet, but even asleep, they could be told apart. Both had dark tufts of hair, but one had a huge puff of it, while the other had several handsome little curls, and Genji decided that’s what he was going to call them for now; Fluffy and Curls. Curls had olive skin, while Fluffy was paler, and while Fluffy kept wiggling in their sleep, Curls was still except for breathing.

He wondered if they were twins, or siblings, or completely unrelated. Had they been stolen from some hospital and left behind parents and family that were devastated and desperate? Maybe they were both left to foster care and obtained via adoption by Talon. It wouldn’t be beyond Talon to have fingers dipped into human trafficking, maybe that was it. Or maybe Moira had grown them in a test tube somehow, or even had some Talon agent with a uterus carry them to term. And they had numbers on their wristbands, did that mean there were more babies somewhere for Talon to use and abuse for their ends? Genji was known to be a bit dramatic (it was a Shimada family trait, he liked to joke), and his mind was spinning strange and tragic origin stories for the infants.

Genji tried to force the thoughts out, almost going so far as to physically shake his head to rid himself of them. Regardless of their origins, they were here now, and they were too tiny and new to take care of themselves, so the important thing was to step up and get them what they needed. If they did have families that were mourning the loss of a child, they would find a way to return them eventually.

Arriving at the base again was a relief, at until the door opened, and he saw a number of agents were waiting on the landing pad for them, probably eager to see the mysterious babies. Angela headed the group, wearing her doctor face and sided by two hospital bassinets that Genji had no idea why the base would even have. Everyone else seemed mostly curious, like they didn’t quite believe that babies would be found at a Talon base, and Genji couldn’t say he blamed them for needing to see it to believe it.

Ana and Torbjorn took it upon themselves to take the babies and leave the ship first, thankfully, and Genji and the rest stood back during the initial attempt to crowd the babies and the following bouts of scolding by the elder members and the doctor to make them back off.

The babies didn’t like the noise, and Curls whined and Fluffy let out an ear-piercing pterodactyl shriek that sounded less like a cry for help and more like an attempt to scare off any threats. Genji immediately decided that Fluffy was his favorite.

Once Angela was leading the way to the medbay to look the babies over, attention turned to the other members who had been on the mission, and the questioning began. Where were the babies found? Why were the babies found? Were they okay? Was Talon taking care of them or were they suffering? Did the babies have names? What happened to the babies’ parents? Id some Talon agent actually just take their babies to work? Why would Talon want babies? What would happen to the babies themselves?

“I imagine,” Satya said in response to that final query, “that will depend on if Doctor Ziegler finds anything wrong with the infants. If their time at Talon has caused them any injuries, we will have to at least keep them until they are well again. After that…”

“After that, we’ll see if there’s any cases of missing infants that they match, I suppose,” Hanzo finished for her. “And if not, we will find another way to trace their families and get them home.”

“What if they don’t have a family though?” Lena asked, sounding concerned. “Although, I guess there are foster care systems…”

“Foster care should be a last resort,” McCree stated, and between the seriousness of his tone and the fact that it was the first thing he’d said since getting off the ship, no one saw fit to question it.

“Maybe we could take care of them?” Brigette suggested, but there were several eye rolls and immediate dismissals in response, and then Lucio objected that if they could save the world they could totally raise some babies, and so on and so forth the conversation began to drift into madness. This wasn’t uncommon, really.

Zenyatta had come up from behind Genji, and he placed a gentle hand on Genji’s shoulder. That alone was enough to calm him a bit, make him feel steadier despite the surreal situation. If his master had any questions, he was willing to let them wait, and Genji was grateful for that. Instead, Zenyatta just gave a nod to the others and tugged Genji gently away, and Genji was thankful of the out even if Hanzo was giving him a look for taking it.

“So. Children,” Zenyatta commented as though to no one in particular as he wandered off with Genji. “We run into so many types of people here, but this may be one of the strangest incidents yet.”

“Stranger than the visit we got from the hamster?” Genji asked innocently, and he was rewarded with Zenyatta’s laughter. Already Genji’s mood was improving.

+

The babies were brought to the medical ward, where right away Angela began check-ups and diagnostics. A few new details came up before long. First of all, Fluffy was a girl, and Curls was a boy. Second, the babies were both about seven weeks of age, but they were not biologically related in any way. Finally, and likely most importantly, the babies had been genetically altered somehow. It was minor, likely because they were still fucking infants, but it painted a dark picture of what Talon had planned for the future of these children.

Genji was aware of this only because, once he had time to really absorb what was happening, he got insanely curious about the babies and texted Angela constantly for updates on them until she gave him the info. Unfortunately, that was ALL the info…now there was nothing to do but try to find the best way to track down any family the babies had.

Angela did open up the med bay for visits after enough needling, and of course everyone rushed to see them. Dinner conversation was almost exclusively cooing over how cute the babies were, or discussing past experience with infants, or discussing lack of past experience with infants, or more arguing bout what would happen to them, or a new argument over what the call the babies (Genji’s suggestion of Fluffy and Curls was fairly popular, much to Genji’s delight). Even the usually quieter members, like Satya and 76 and Hanzo, made a few comments here or there.

Still, Genji decided to wait until later, when people were settling in for the night, to go see the babies again himself. Well, Zenyatta was going to see them, Genji was just tagging along, but the end result was the same.

When they entered, Angela was at her desk, in front of her laptop but also holding a tablet computer in one hand, and looking somewhat stressed. She didn’t even hear them come in. Zenyatta and Genji exchanged looks and chose not to disturb her, and instead went to the little cribs.

Apparently, someone had found some baby clothes (or made some baby clothes?), because now they both wore little onesies, yellow for Fluffy and green for Curls, and they even had cute little matching booties on their feet. Curls was sleeping, chewing on his fist as he did, but Fluffy was awake, and looked up at them with dark eyes.

Genji glanced over at Zenyatta, who was gazing at the children with absolute awe. It was hard to read the face of an omnic, but Genji had picked up a lot over the years in Nepal, and he considered himself an expert in Zenyatta in particular; he could tell in the posture, in the tilt of his head, in his stillness, that Zenyatta was just enchanted by these babies.

“Do you…like children, master?” Genji asked, attempting to sound casual even though he knew Zenyatta would see right through him. “You did not bring up if that was the case during the…discussion at dinner.”

(Angela still didn’t look to them, even though Genji hadn’t kept his voice down…she was incredibly invested in whatever she was doing!)

“Yes, dinner was very lively tonight,” Zenyatta commented, sounding amused. “And yes, I’m very fond of children…since leaving the temple in Nepal to travel, I haven’t had as much interaction with them, but back when it was home, I always adored when the villagers would bring their children to visit.”

As he spoke, Zenyatta reached out and gently brushed Fluffy’s chubby cheek with his fingers. She turned her head that direction immediately, and opened her mouth as if to bite them. Zenyatta chuckled and pulled them away. “Aren’t they just lovely little things? I can tell this little one is very spirited.”

“Yes, when they came off the shuttle and one of them was screaming like a banshee? That was this one I think,” Genji said, carefully patting Fluffy’s other cheek. Again, she turned to where she was touched. A reflex of some sort, Genji supposed. It was cute, somehow.

“…may I ask what your opinion of children is, my student?” Zenyatta inquired, his voice gentle and without judgement. It was asked innocently, but Genji knew Zenyatta didn’t do anything without thinking, and that he probably already sensed some of Genji’s discomfort.

Genji shrugged, but of course Zenyatta kept looking at him, waiting for an answer. “I don’t know,” the ninja admitted eventually. “I never even thought about children. I mean…I never thought about children. I ran into them sometimes, and I don’t hate children, but…they were never important. I knew I would be married off for political gain eventually by my family, so I figured I’d worry about it then. And then…well, then everything happened, and between saving the world and saving myself…where would children fit into that? I made peace with the fact I’d never start a family along with everything else.”

Zenyatta hummed in understanding. “Yes…your life has taken you down strange paths, hasn’t it? You’ve had different things on your mind.” The omnic put his finger against Fluffy’s little fist, and she grabbed it tight. “Children are one of many things you haven’t been exposed to. Are you uncomfortable with that?”

“It’s…more that it reminds me of what could have been if I was…normal. I’m in my thirties. This is when most people have children, right?”

“It’s different for everybody, Genji,” Zenyatta reminded him kindly. No one knew better than Zenyatta just how much Genji thought about what could have been.

And no one helped Genji live the best possible life with what was.

The pair were startled by a clatter, and turned to see Angela jump up from her computer, finally having noticed them. She made a few aborted attempts to speak or ask questions, but then she stopped and collected herself. Genji and Zenyatta were kind enough to give her a moment or two to do so.

“I didn’t even hear you two come in,” Angela said, laughing weakly at her obvious statement. “You were just in time for me to stumble across something that demanded my attention.”

“It’s fine, doctor. We know how important your work is and how dedicated to it you are,” Zenyatta said evenly, and Genji nodded in agreement. Angela did not seem assuaged, however…she was still glancing at the babies with something close to nervousness, and while usually she was very relaxed around Genji and Zenyatta (arguably more so than she was with most others), she still seemed tense.

It made Genji worry. “Is everything alright, Angela? There’s nothing wrong with the babies, is there?”

“No no, nothing that I can tell, anyway,” she assured him, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s not a health matter.”  
There were a few moments of quiet, waiting for further elaboration, before Angela smiled weakly and said “It’s actually good you’re here, Genji. I…there’s something important we need to discuss. Something you in particular need to know.”

“That’s not ominous at all.”

“Oh, hush,” Angela said, although there was a spark of amusement in her eyes at his commentary. “It’s…well. It’s…actually fairly simple, but a bit difficult to say, so I shall be direct.

“I took a DNA sample from each of the infants, as I mentioned before, to test if they had conditions or were somehow related. However, I also submitted the DNA information to Athena, so she could check it against any databases she could access to try to find relatives. And, well…for the baby girl. She got a match.” Genji tried to say that was great, but Angela wouldn’t let him cut her off, kept speaking quickly and almost nervously. “Athena found a familial link in the old Overwatch databases. And, well…

“This baby is…Genji, biologically speaking…she’s YOUR baby.”

“You’re fucking shitting me,” was Genji’s immediate and instinctive response. Zenyatta gave him a light whack on the back of the head, and the shock of it got Genji’s mind going again, and once it did, it was going a mile a minute.

His baby? HIS baby!? But how!? Why!? This wasn’t possible! Was the baby a clone then? Was cloning of humans possible yet? How did Moira get his DNA? Had she stolen it way back in Blackwatch and just kept it? By GOD that was creepy! Would the dragons allow this? What was he supposed to do with a baby!? What about the mother? Did the baby HAVE a mother? Was MOIRA the mother!? That was too horrifying to consider! He HAD to be having a very detailed nightmare! What would Hanzo do? What would GENJI do? Was this completely 100% proven? Was there any room for doubt? He was not prepared for fatherhood! Would the baby have a dragon? Would the remaining Shimadas steal her away if they knew about her? Did she count as a Shimada? Did she count as a real baby even!?

And then the baby started wailing, and Genji shut up…and only when he shut up did he realize he’d begun speaking most of his thoughts out loud, and scared the poor thing. Zenyatta quickly scooped her up, rocking her gently and cooing, letting his orbs raise into the air and spin about him like a halo to distract her. Genji stared at the baby-HIS baby-as she quieted and stared up at a silver faceplate and golden spheres.

“…what should I do?” Genji asked, his voice weaker than he would have liked.

“I…cannot tell you that,” Angela said, wringing her hands together. “After all, you…were essentially violated, to get the material Talon used to even make this baby…you didn’t choose this, you didn’t…this isn’t a normal situation. You had no say in this, or know it was coming…And I know it’s probably overwhelming.”

“You THINK?” Genji asked bitterly, unable to help himself. He suddenly felt HEAVY, filled with confusion and…not dread, really, but a sense that everything had turned over and changed, and would never be put quite back where it was, and likewise he would never acquire balance like he used to have just moments before.

“You don’t have to keep her…”

“Wait, what?” Genji asked, his head shooting up from where he’d been holding it in his hands to stare at Angela, who held up her hands in a placating, “I’m not holding any weapons” sort of gesture.

“We’ll have to care for her, obviously, at least for a while, but…just because the biological link is there, it doesn’t mean…again, you didn’t choose this. You’re not obligated to have to take such a huge responsibility when someone wronged you so much. You don’t have to be her father, not if you’re not ready, not if you don’t want to. We don’t even have to tell anyone, if you don’t want to...I told you because you deserve to know and have a choice, but there IS a choice. You can…it’s up to you, what you should do. And you don’t have to decide right now.”

Genji listened to Angela in silence, and looked over to the baby again. Zenyatta still held her, although he was looking at Genji intently. There was no judgement in his gaze. Genji know he’d have his master’s support in whatever choice he made, and Angela would too, in her way. As for the baby, she looked like she was dozing off now, feeling comfortable and safe in the arms of what was essentially a stranger, because strangers were probably all she’d ever gotten to know anyway.

…she didn’t have anyone at all.

It would be a lie to say Genji was at any kind of peace with this situation, but at least some part of the puzzle slipped into place, and he decided. Slowly, he reached up and took off the pieces of his mask. He put them down, and reached over to Zenyatta. He understood immediately and handed the child over, adjusting Genji’s arms so he was holding the baby properly. She whined, disturbed by the movement, and pouted as she looked up at Genji’s face. If she cared about the scars or artificial skin, she didn’t cry about it.

“…Naming rights,” Genji said suddenly.

“I’m…sorry?” Angela asked, flummoxed by the statement.

“Parents get naming rights,” Genji clarified, still looking at the baby as she lost interest in him, yawning and closing her eyes to go back to sleep. “So I get to decide what her name is.”

“…Yes, I suppose that makes sense,” Angela agreed, getting what he meant now. “But this is serious, Genji. You can’t turn back on this.”

“There’s been lots of times I couldn’t turn back,” Genji reminded her. “I’ve had to deal with a lot I couldn’t change. But I can change something here.” He looked up at the woman who saved his body and the man who saved his soul. “I can make things better for her.”

Angela smiled, genuinely this time, and nodded. Zenyatta had his hands clasped together and the orbs were spinning in a fast orbit, and Genji was sure he’d be absolutely BEAMING if his face allowed for it. It made him all the more sure that, even though there was still so much discord in his heart right now, he could and would do the right thing.

He would be a good father.

He held her a little longer, but soon he was sure she was soundly asleep, and he carefully put her back in her crib. As he did, he glanced at the other baby, who had slept through the entire paradigm shift, oblivious. “So you found out who this one is related to…were you able to get any information to help us with him?”

Angela’s smile faded in an instant. She glanced back at her computer, looking conflicted. Genji felt like he’d said something wrong. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to…”

“No…I should. I can’t in good conscious keep it to myself, but I’m never going to get up the courage to tell…”

“To tell who? Do they also have a parent in Overwatch?” Zenyatta asked, his voice concerned.

“No, not anymore,” Angela clarified looking suddenly very tired. “But he used to be, so his DNA was in the same database where the connection with Genji was found for the little girl. I was doing double checks when you came in, that’s what I was so invested in, but it was just so...TRAGIC, I couldn’t…” Angela sighed and looked up at Genji and Zenyatta, desperate and maybe a little scared.

“How can I possibly tell everyone that we’re taking care of Gabriel Reyes’ son?”


End file.
